Ellwood City girls hold out hope for playoff berth in Saturday’s 3 things to watch in HS sports

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, February 9, 2019 | 12:03 AM

The 2019 WPIAL boys and girls playoff fields are finally set.

Well, the girls’ side is nearly finalized.

One team will find out if it is headed to the district playoffs or if it will be home listening to the postseason on Trib HSSN.

The strange thing is the team that is in wait mode isn’t even playing Saturday.

Section 1-3A has four teams that have clinched — Neshannock, Avonworth, Beaver and Mohawk.

Ellwood City is 6-8 and a half-game behind Mohawk for fourth place.

If Beaver wins at Mohawk on Saturday afternoon, the Warriors drop to 6-8 and will be tied with Ellwood City for fourth place. The two teams split in the regular season so both would qualify for the playoffs.

However, if Mohawk beats Beaver, Ellwood City is out.

While the playoff field is set on the boys’ side, the New Castle at Ambridge game Saturday evening will determine the section champion in Section 2-4A.

After Ambridge beat Quaker Valley Friday, the Bridgers are now tied with the Red Hurricane at 9-2.

Listen to the New Castle at Ambridge game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on TribHSSN.TribLive.com.

Pittsburgh Classic

The New Castle at Ambridge boys basketball game at 7:30 p.m. will cap a busy day of basketball Saturday at Ambridge.

Starting at 10 a.m., the six-game Pittsburgh Classic girls basketball event is set to take place.

The matchups in order of tip time are:

Obama Academy vs. Sto-Rox, 10 a.m.

Monessen vs. New Brighton, 11:30 a.m.

Montour vs. Hopewell, 1 p.m.

Canon-McMillan vs. Carlynton, 2:30 p.m.

Westinghouse vs. Laurel, 4 p.m.

Seneca Valley vs. Ambridge, 6 p.m.

State team wrestling champs to be crowned

Saturday concludes the one-week PIAA team wrestling playoffs where two champions will be crowned and two others will survive the consolation bracket to claim third place.

The WPIAL has three teams still alive heading into Saturday morning at the Giant Center in Hershey, however all three are in the consolation round.

WPIAL Class AAA champion Kiski Area lost to Northampton in the semifinals Friday and is in Round 4 of the consolation bracket. The Cavaliers will face the Spring-Ford vs. Canon-McMillan winner.

WPIAL Class AA champion Burrell also heads to Day 3, but also in the consolation round. The Bucs battle District 6 champion Westmont-Hilltop Saturday morning.

The state title matches are Bethlehem Catholic vs. Northampton in Class AAA and Southern Columbia against Reynolds in Class AA.

Don Rebel is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Don at drebel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TheDonRebel.

Tags: Ambridge, Burrell, Canon-McMillan, Carlynton, Ellwood City, Hopewell, Kiski School, Laurel, Mohawk, Monessen, Montour, New Brighton, New Castle, Obama Academy, Seneca Valley, Sto-Rox, Westinghouse